mclauchlan



March 10, 1964 A. B. MCLAUCHLAN MACHINE FOR sucmc BERRIES IN HALF 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 29, 1962 INVENTOR. ARTHUR B. MCLAUCHLAN TTORNEY March 10, 1964 A. B. M LAUCHLAN 3,

MACHINE FOR SLICING BERRIES IN HALF Filed June 29, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 V ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,124,183 MACHINE FOR SLICING BERRIES 1N HALF Arthur B. McLauchlan, 1145 Lancaster Drive, Salem, Greg. Filed June 29, 1962, Ser. No. 206,439 1 Claim. (Cl. 14-6-73) This invention is concerned particularly with the slicing of strawberries in half along the center line of the hull in order that the resulting two halves of the sliced berry will be similar in size and shape.

As is well known in the trade, when strawberries of the varieties which are more or less pear-shaped are sliced in the so-called random slicers and the slicing of the pear-shaped strawberry happens to be done transversely with respect to the center line of the hull, the two halves will differ in size and shape, which results in making the two berry halves less attractive in appearance than when the halves are similar in size and shape. Consequently strawberries which are sliced in half along the major axis or center line of the hull bring a better price in the market than such berries sliced at random.

The device of this invention is similar in many respects to the machine described in US. Letters Patent No. 2,800,935 8, issued July 30, 1957, entitled Slicer for Berries and the Like but the present invention includes certain improvements over the machine described in the prior patent. Like the slicing machine of the prior patent, the device of the present invention employs oscillating V- shaped troughs for orienting the berries and causing them to assume a uniform position, with the large or hull end uppermost, preparatory to being sliced by rotating slicing knives.

However, in the machine of the prior patent the rotating slicing knives extend into the discharging ends of the oscillating troughs respectively so that the berries in the troughs are moved into contact with the rotating slicing knives as a result of the impetus received from the oscillating troughs. While this arrangement has been found to produce generally satisfactory results under most conditions, the capacity or production speed of this earlier machine has proved to be somewhat less than desired due to the fact that the travel of the successive berries is momentarily slowed down as each berry comes into contact with its slicing knife. Consequently during seasonal rush periods, when an operator has striven to keep pace with the delivery of strawberries for immediate slicing by obtaining greater production from such machine, ti has been found that the berries in the troughs have a tendency to gang up immediately ahead of the knives, due to the slowing up of the travel of each berry as it contacts its slicing knife. This problem has been encountered particularly with the slicing of berries in the frozen state. On the other hand it has not been possible to alleviate this problem by increasing the speed of rotation of the slicing knives, and furthermore it has been found that if the knives are rotated at excessive speed the berry halves are then thrown out from the machine too forcibly, and also, in the case of soft berries, it has been found that any excessive knife speed results in mutilating the berries in the slicing.

The object of the present invention is to avoid these difficulties by having the slicing of the berries take place after the berries have been discharged from their oscillating troughs so that the berries will be discharged freely from the oscillating troughs and no retarding of the travel of the berries as they approach the ends of their oscillating troughs will take place.

A related object of the invention is to provide additional means by which the oriented berries will be pulled into contact with their knives also by gravity, so that their speed of travel, as they become engaged by the knives will be increased rather than retarded, thus preventing any ganging up of the berries as they approach the knives.

A further object of the invention is to provide readily adjustable means for delivering the oriented berries to their respective knives, as they are discharged from the oscillating troughs, so that a greater or less gravitational pull may be exerted on the berries, as desired, as the berries move into actual contact with the knives, depending upon the nature and condition of the berries being processed at the time.

These objects and other incidental advantages are satisfactorily attained by the improvements hereinafter briefly described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a sectional side elevation of the entire slicing machine including the improvements comprising the pres ent invention, this section being taken on line 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a corresponding top plan view;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken on line 33 of FIG. 2 drawn to a larger scale; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary end elevation taken on line ".4 of FIG. 2 and drawn to the same scale as FIG. 3.

Referring first to FIG. 1, the device is supported on a suitable rigid frame structure indicated in general by the reference 1th A vibrating or oscillating assembly 11 is supported on a rear pair of pivotally mounted arms 12, one of which is shown in FIG. 1, and on a forward pair of pivotally mounted arms 13, of which one is also shown in FIG. 1. These arms are adjustably as well as pivotally mounted and both pairs of arms are set to slope upwardly and rearwardly. The rear pair 12 is so set as to slope further from the vertical than the forward pair 13. The forward pair of arms are secured to a shaft 1 3' and a downwardly-extending arm 14-, which is also secured to this shaft 13', is pivotally connected with a pitman rod 1'5 actuated by an eccentric mechanism 16 driven by a motor M1. This particular type of oscillating frame assembly is well known and the composite oscillatory movement imparted to the frame assembly will be readily understood.

A series of ridged pans 17, 18 and 19 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 4) are removably mounted in the frame assembly 11. These pans 17, 1S and 19 are similarly formed with parallel V-shaped longitudinally-extending troughs. While a single ridged pan could be substituted in place of the three pans r17, 18 and 19, the use of three successive pans is preferred since the shorter pans can be more conveniently removed for cleaning or replacement. The walls of the V-shaped troughs in these pans form identical dihedral angles of such size that the spacing between the walls of each trough at the top will somewhat exceed the maximum diameter of the berries to be sliced and the depth of each trough will be greater than the average center line length, from the stem to the opposite end, of the berries. For average pear-shaped strawberries a dihedral angle of approximately 36 for each trough has been found very satisfactory.

When the berries are placed in the first pan or set of troughs they proceed to move along in the troughs (from left to right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2) under the impetus received from a composite oscillatory motion im parted to the frame assembly, 11 on which the pans are supported.

Regardless of the position of the individual berries when they are first deposited in the troughs of the first pan 17, they will assume a uniform position with the large end or hull uppermost, and will maintain this position while continuing their travel along in the corresponding troughs of the successive pans.

A pan or shelf 20 (FIG. 1) for receiving the berries to be sliced is mounted at the top of the frame assembly 11 at the rear end (or left hand end as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2). Since it is generally desired to have the berries first sorted according to size before being sliced, so that each batch sliced will be of fairly uniform size, the machine preferably is provided with simple means for removing undersize and oversize berries. For this purpose the receiving pan 2t) discharges onto a grating 21 which is formed of longitudinally-extending parallel bars set far enough apart to let all but the oversize berries drop down through the grating 21 onto a lower grating 22. The oversize berries, which will not pass through the top grating 21, move along this grating (from left to right as viewed in the figures) until they reach a discharging pan 23 which leads these oversize berries off to one side and drops them onto a travelling belt 24 (KG. 2) or else into a suitable receptacle.

The lower grating 22 is similar to the upper grating 21 except that the bars of the lower grating are closer together so that this grating will collect the particular size berries desired for this slicing operation. The undersize berries, which are not desired for this slicing, drop down between the bars of this lower grating 22 onto a suitable conveyor belt 25, which is supported in part by suitable means mounted on the frame structure it and which conveys the undersize berries away from the machine. The berries retained by the lower grating 22, which are the berries for this particular slicing, move off the grating 22 into the troughs of the first pan 17 and proceed to travel along the troughs of the pans until they reach the end of the last pan 19.

A pair of vertical plates 26, which are welded to or otherwise rigidly secured to the supporting frame It at opposite sides of the machine respectively, extend beyond the end of the vibrating frame assembly 11. An L.- shaped bracket 27 is adjustably mounted on each of these plates by means of bolts 28 (FIGS. 3 and 4) which extend through horizontal slots (one of which is shown at 22 in FIG. 3) in the plates 26. Each bracket 27 has a lower, downwardly extending portion 27' which is inwardly offset from the outer side. A side arm 30 is adjustably mounted on the lower portion 27' of each bracket 27. The two arms 33 extend for a short distance upwardly and rearwardly inside the plates 25. A channel iron 31 (FIGS. 1 and 2) connects the pair of arms 30, being welded at its ends to these arms respectively. A chute panel 32 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 4) is rigidly secured on the channel iron 31.

The chute panel 32 is formed with a plurality of identical, parallel, downwardly sloping short chutes or guide ways, corresponding in number and width to the troughs in the pans 17, 18 and 19. The longitudinal center line of each chute in the panel 32 extends in the same vertical plane as the center line or bottom vertex line of a corresponding trough in the pan 19 (and also in the pans 17 and 18). Preferably, although not necessarily, the chutes in the panel 32 are V-shaped troughs, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4, with the walls of the troughs forming dihedral angles identical to those formed by the walls of the V-shaped troughs in the pans 17, 18 and 19.

The chute panel 32 is so positioned that the top edge of the panel will be a very short distance below the discharging end of the pan 19, with the chutes or troughs of the chute panel in registration respectively with the discharging ends of the troughs of the pan 19. As apparent, the arrangement is such that the berries, upon reaching the end of the pan 19, will drop down into the corresponding chutes or troughs of the chute panel 32, and then, due to the comparatively steep slope of the stationary chute panel, proceed to slide rapidly down the panel into engagement with the respective knives.

The slicing knives 33 are positioned near the bottom edge of the chute panel and are so arranged that each knife will extend into a chute of the panel, the knives extending in the same vertical planes as the center lines of the chutes respectively. The knives 33, which are circular and identical, are secured in position on a common shaft 34 and are rotated in counter-clockwise direction (as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 3). The knife shaft 34 is rotatably supported in a pair of bearing mounts 35 which are bolted to the brackets 27 respectively. The knife shaft is driven by belt and pulley connection with a motor M2 which is mounted on a horizontal shelf 36 (FIG. 4) formed integral with one of the vertical side plates as and extending outwardly from the side thereof.

Preferably the end of the plate 19, and thus the discharging ends of the V-shaped troughs of this plate, is cut off obliquely, as indicated at 19 in FIG. 1, thus with the ends of the trough walls sloping upwardly and forwardly (in the direction of travel of the berries) from the bottom vertices of the troughs. This facilitates the dropping of the berries directly downwardly from the troughs with the bottom or small diameter ends of the berries free. In practice it has been found very satisfactory to have these trough ends at 19 cut off at an angle of approximately 45 and also to have the slope of the chute panel 32 approximately 45. However, as apparent from FIGS. 1 and 3, the slope or inclination of the chute panel 32 can be adjusted within certain limits.

To prevent any possibility of the berries bouncing out of the chutes or troughs in the chute panel 32 as they are dropped down from the end of the pan 19, especially when the berries being sliced are in hard frozen condition and are being moved along in the machine as rapidly as possible, additional guide strips 37 (FIGS. 1 and 4) are mounted to extend upwardly from the ridges between the chutes or troughs in the chute panel.

Preferably the rotating slicing knives 33 have spaced portions of their peripheries serrated, as indicated at 33 in FIG. 3, since it has previously been found that such partly serrated knife edges will generally produce smoother cuts through strawberries. The berry halves drop down onto a suitable conveyor 38.

From FIG. 1 it will now be apparent that after the berries reach the ends of the troughs in the last pan 19 they drop immediately onto the chute panel and, due to the steep slope of the chute panel, the berries slide down the chutes or troughs in the chute panel with considerably 'ncreased speed as they move into contact with the rotating slicing knives. The fact that the berries are thus moved into contact with the knives under increased travelling speed and under gravitational pull results in quicker and better slicing of the berries, and, by preventing any slowing up or collecting of berries at the discharging ends of the troughs in the last pan 19, make it possible for the slicing machine, with the improvements herein described, to have greater production capacity.

I claim:

In a slicing machine of the character described, a pan having a plurality of identical, parallel, V-shaped troughs extending longitudinally along the pan and having open discharging ends at the forward end of said pan, the walls of said troughs at said discharging ends cut away so as to terminate in a plane sloping obliquely downwardly and inwardly with respect to the lines of the bottom vertices of said troughs, means connected with said pan for imparting a special oscillatory motion thereto so as to cause berries deposited in said troughs to move forwardly along said troughs to said discharging ends and to arrange themselves with their major axes in vertical planes bisecting the dihedral angles of said troughs, a stationary chute panel extending downwardly and forwardly from said pan, the upper receiving end of said panel positioned a short distance beneath said discharging ends of said troughs, said chute panel formed with identical parallel chute troughs corresponding in number and width to said troughs of said pan, the longitudinal center line of each chute trough extending in the same vertical plane as the bottom vertex line of a corresponding trough of said pan,

5' 6 and a rotating cutting knife at the bottom end of each said chute troughs and move more rapidly into contact chute trough of said panel positioned in the same vertical Wllh d m esplane as the longitudinal center line of the chute trough References Cited in the file of this patent and the bottom vertex km of the correspondlng trough in said pan, whereby berries deposited in said troughs of 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS said pan, upon being oriented and upon reaching said dis 2,241,081 Clark May 1941 charging ends of said pan troughs, will drop freely into 2,417,174 Pram/@1115 1947 2,800,938 McLauchlan July 30, 1957 

